About

This Kickstarter project has been launched so that I can get an N gauge Mermaid Ballast wagon into production. It will be County Rolling Stocks (CRS) first ready to run (RTR) model that we will solely own. We have previously produced limited edition wagons with Dapol and our own ranges of wagon, building, scenic and Nn3 kits. This is a new and exciting adventure for us into mass production, working with Dapol and their Chinese factories.

This model will be 1:148 scale for the British N Gauge market running on 9mm track gauge. The funds raised are to cover the design, tooling, livery design, packaging, production, shipping, taxes and associated fees. As a big thank you for you getting on board and backing this project now, the prices on this Kickstarter are below the final RRP.

Wagon History

The Mermaid Ballast Wagons were built and designed by Metropolitan-Cammell Ltd of Saltley, Birmingham in the 1930’s. The GWR ordered the first batch of sixty in 1930 and were numbered 100001-60 and were unfitted brakes (individually hand braked). With the formation of BR these were renumbered as DW100001-60 and for the time being remained unfitted.
Between 1954 and 1957 BR ordered eighty nine more of these wagons to the original unfitted design; these were numbered DB989000-88. A third batch followed between 1959 and 1961 but to a updated design with fitted vacuum brakes and new buffers . This third fitted batch were allocated to several regions across the UK and were numbered from DB989089-638. The following regions and locations received allocations: Western Region, Eastern Region (Doncaster - Carr & Hitchin), London Midland Region ( Crewe, Northampton, Walsall & Willesden) and North Eastern (Darlington & York). In later years they moved further afield with some being moved up to Scotland. At least some of the second batch and possibly the first batch were upgraded to fitted brakes.

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Model Specification

Unfitted and Fitted braked vehicles

2 different axle boxes

2 different buffers

NEM Pockets and couplings

Fine chain

Bag of extras

Open chassis

Process

Below is the original CAD drawing of the OO Mermaid (thanks to Flangeway) and there will be minor changes when the wagon is scaled down to N gauge.

After approving the drawing, tooling and seeing prototypes the manufacture will start in Dapols’ factory in China.

Risks and challenges

Having run campaigns before in both model railways and wargaming I know the biggest risk is delays in manufacture. I have also backed over fifty projects and seen how many of them experience delays in signing off the product or packaging through to being let down by the manufacturer prioritising a bigger contract.

To alleviate these issues I am working with Dapol on this project as it is my first RTR venture. Dapol are one of the main manufacturers of British N Gauge Model Railways and have a successful track record of delivering novel products to market.
The other risk is biting off more than I can chew, which is why I have no stretch goals on this project.